Halloween's Horrors
by Windsurf
Summary: Danny's first Halloween.  BEWARE!


**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.**

**Halloween's Horrors**

Danny was nearly pulling his hair out with frustration. "NO! NO, No, no, No, NO!"

"But-"

"No."

"It's-"

"NO."

"We always-"

"Nnnn. Oooh."

Now Skulker was glaring. "You can't just ignore millenniums of tradition! It's built into you!"

"I don't care!" Danny snapped back. "It's wrong and I won't do it!"

"You can't control it!" Skulker retorted.

Danny fell silent at that; it was true. Since the very first day of October, he had felt impulses to do scary, mischievous pranks. At first, they were small and easy to resist, such as turning Tucker's can of soda intangible – the can, not the soda – when he was drinking it or switching Tucker and Sam's meals or turning Jazz's bookshelf full of her schoolwork and psychological notes invisible. He had written them off as his common attraction to pranks, but every day it got progressively worse and he had a harder time resisting. Today was the day before Halloween. Danny looked down at the street below them, full of passersby walking around, minding their own business. Wouldn't it be fun if he made one or two of them partially intangible and left them stuck in the sidewalk? He could just picture the looks on their faces when they realized only their upper halves were above the concrete ground. Or maybe more than just two…?

Skulker watched him. He could tell that Phantom was thinking of a prank; the ghostchild's ears were growing pointed and a look of absolute mischief was spreading across his face, making him look like a devious sprite. Earlier, he hadn't been sure if the ghostly instincts would affect Phantom since he was half human, but as Phantom became slyer and more prone to dark humor in their fights, he had become convinced. As for himself, Skulker didn't feel any dark strivings out of the ordinary. You know, eat a few ghost animals for dinner, skin a few pelts afterwards, go hunt down Elvis Presley – that elusive ghost would be quite an amusing prize. When Skulker had been a new ghost (young couldn't be said), he had tried to be good and stay out of humans' ways. But every Halloween, the urges had appeared and he would succumb to them. Eventually, he gave up, and went evil year-round.

This happened to lots of ghosts. Only ones that had extreme responsibilities for the universe, such as the Observants or Clockwork, were protected from these instincts. Others that lived deep in the Ghost Zone were too caught up in their reclusiveness or too depressed to be able to pay them any heed. Animalistic, yet sentient, ghosts were used to pressing down such impulses, so they did not find it trying to be good during Halloween (it they so wished). Most others, however, went bad, and then continued even after Halloween. Precious few ghosts that didn't fit into the said categories managed to stay good. In fact, Skulker only knew of one: Plasmius. Plasmius had somehow found how to repress the instincts to do inexpressible destruction eighteen years ago. (He had found him sobbing on the carpet of his mansion, screaming about "the perfect wife," "superglue," and "stilts." Also something about a rather revealing dress?)

It would be interesting to see what happened to the ghostchild. He was able to resist far more than Skulker had back in the day, but it looked like the instincts were-

_Scratch that_, Skulker thought as Phantom's ears returned to normal.

"I can control it! Marginally."

Ember flew up beside Skulker. "Aren't you done yet? Hey Phantom, let's go!"

"What?" Danny yelled. "I'm not going anywhere with you!"

"Why not?"

"Um, hello? You are my enemy!"

"So?"

"SO? What do you mean, so?"

Ember rolled her eyes as more ghosts came up to them. "Halloween is a golden time for ghosts. We experience a general atmosphere of unity – and universally participate in its traditions. It's like the Christmas truce, only it holds for two days: the day before Halloween, when bands of ghosts work together to plan the tricks for the next day, and then Halloween, when we carry out the plans. Didn't metalhead here explain it to you?"

"Not participating would be breaking the rules," Walker added.

"So how did I come to join **your** band? If I have to do this, I'd rather do this alone."

"**Our** band consists of all the ghosts in the area," Skulker replied. "And everyone knows that we can do better pranks if we work together."

Danny looked at the assembled ghosts before him. There was the Box Ghost, the Lunch Lady, Technus, Skulker, Ember, Desiree, Spectra, Bertrand, Johnny 13, Kitty, Youngblood, and Walker, all standing in front of him, waiting for him to join them and do some hilarious pranks-

"I don't see Plasmius here. Or Dora," Danny said in a last feeble attempt to resist.

"Plasmius never leaves his mansion during Halloween anymore, and Dora's kingdom is beyond our region," Ember said.

Danny looked at them again. His ears were now fully pointed, and he asked in a small voice, "Nothing too serious, right?"

The ghosts all smiled and shook their heads, and he let them lead him away.

"Did you see the look on his face?" Danny roared with laughter to Skulker and Ember beside him. The ghosts had split up into groups of three to fly through the town and look for inspiration for some big tricks for the next day.

That didn't mean they couldn't do some tricks then and there.

Skulker laughed and Ember snickered at the memory of Kwan's horrified expression when he found that his entire room had been painted pink. And not just any pink – hot, eye-hurting, _burning_ pink.

The scream had been rather pleasurable, too.

They continued on, now entering Paulina's house to see that she wasn't home. Ember raised an eyebrow when Phantom smiled his newfound sprite-smile. He was better at this than she had expected.

"What are you thinking, dipstick?" The term had become a nickname in the past hour.

"Too easy. Let's just fill her wardrobe with black, gothic clothes. Oh, here's an idea! We can switch everybody's clothes – I'd like to see Dash Baxter prancing around in a purple tutu with pink glitter!"

"Oh, yeah, real original!" Skulker retorted. "It was my idea to paint that human boy's room a girl color and now you're applying the same idea to clothes!"

Phantom raised a finger. "Ah, but clothes are more humiliating. More … public."

"We'll keep it in mind," Ember said as she led them away. "But if we're going to do that tomorrow, then we can't do it today." She almost laughed at the boys' pouts.

The mall was even better. They had just finished carrying out Ember's idea of causing all the store's soundtracks to blare at maximum volume _at the same time_ when Youngblood, the Box Ghost, and Desiree flew up beside them and started laughing too hard to talk.

Pixie-Danny was nearly jumping out of his skin to learn what was so funny. "What? What? What?"

Ember and Skulker both stared at him. They had had no idea the hero could be like this.

Desiree pointed a little way down the street, and Danny took off in a flash.

He came back with a speculative look on his face, his spectral tail flicking back and forth.

Ember and Skulker watched him warily.

Desiree, Youngblood, and the Box Ghost stared at the new attitude the hero had, then turned to his companions for an explanation. They just shrugged.

"I think," Danny said slowly with the most mischievous twinkle in his eyes yet and a sprite-like smirk, "that it's time to pay Dash a visit …"

"MY house is the scariest in the city," Dash bragged as he led the football team and the cheerleaders down the street. "It's full of huge spiders and zombies – we even have several limbs buried away in the yard." He pictured the dark front porch and the new feature to their driveway: whenever someone walked down it, a sharp, unexpected crack sounded. Old-fashioned? Yes. But it was also unknown to most of the people in his class; the only reason he had it was because his parents had remembered it from their childhood. They even had a new doorbell that screamed when you pressed it.

"And so, as you can see," Dash began as he stopped in front of his house and bowed to the crowd of open-mouthed people, "we-"

He was cut off by the shrieks of – laughter? Dash stood up, completely baffled. They were supposed to be shrieks of fear! He turned around and then gave the scream of fear that was the sound of their new doorbell.

**WHAT HAPPENED?**

Instead of the spiders and ghouls on his porch that he clearly remembered setting up, his _teddy bear collection_ was sitting on the banisters. Some were in friendly waving positions. The porch had been painted white, and there were garlands and summer flowers scattered here and there.

Dash marched up and flung the door open, ready to yell at his parents for changing the decorations, but he didn't get that far because that was when an avalanche of dirty laundry – from socks to football uniforms – crashed down on him. The smell was so bad his audience gagged.

"Whoa, that should teach him to do his laundry," Danny remarked.

Dash growled with anger. "I wish I wasn't under this pile of clothes!"

Desiree smiled. Time for Part B.

The clothes suddenly lifted off of Dash, freeing him from the pile, but then twirled around him, looking like a miniature tornado of clothing. The human audience gaped while the ghost one tried not to laugh ahead of time.

When the tornado stopped, Dash Baxter was nowhere to be found. Instead, the worst-smelling, dirtiest mummy you could ever imagine stood in his place. The wrappings even covered his face!

"EL EEE!" the mummy shouted. The humans backed up and fled in terror. The mummy put its arms out and felt around the front porch, barely managing to stagger up the steps.

The ghosts flew intangibly into Dash's house to watch the scene.

"OOOO! AAAA!" the mummy moaned to Mr. and Mrs. Baxter in the living room.

Their reaction was very predictable. Both of them jumped up and shrieked at a pitch human singers are not recommended to hit and Mrs. Baxter grabbed the broom she had been using to clean while Mr. Baxter grabbed his coffee. After all, wouldn't you if you saw (and smelled) a horrifying, dead mummy reaching out for you and knocking over your prized, _clean_ possessions, moaning inhumanly all the while?

"!" The mummy let out a wordless shriek when Mr. Baxter's steaming coffee burned his left side and face. Mrs. Baxter began beating him over the head and prodding him rather painfully with her broom, trying to push him towards the open front door.

Of course, this was all happening while Phantom and company were invisibly shaking with laughter above them at the irony and sight of it all. The humans' expressions had been priceless, priceless! Dash stumbled back and crashed into the table with a vase – a vase that slowly toppled over and shattered when it hit the floor.

Mrs. Baxter screamed and went at Dash with a will, tearing off the wrappings and clothes until-

-until she saw her son. She screamed again out of shock and Dash's father came running, with a hot iron.

"HYAAAAA!" he shouted as he threw it at the figure on the floor, not registering what had just happened.

"NO!" Dash's mother shouted, but it was too late. The ghosts took their leave as Dash screamed when the iron seared his skin –

"We went too far," Danny argued. He hadn't meant for anyone to get hurt – even if it was funny … No! People were not going to get hurt. Minor property, fine, but the people he was supposed to protect? Not fine!

They had just met up at the park with the other ghosts after Danny had checked to make sure that Dash would be alright. Thankfully, he would – given a few weeks. Ouch.

"I bet you guys hurt people, too!" he accused of the other ghosts, who all looked at him like he was nuts.

"That's half of the fun!" Spectra said greedily, smiling at the memories of the delicious screams of despair she had heard.

"Well, we're going to have to do something less fun, then!" Danny blustered. "Or rather, something fun, but something wherein people don't get hurt!"

"Is that even possible?" Johnny 13 asked.

"Of course not," Technus replied. "Now …"

The ghosts began making plans for the next day while Danny paced back and forth in his ghost form, thinking.

An hour later, he brightened.

"I've got it!"

"You've got what?" Youngblood asked. "No Halloween spirit?"

"No, a way to have fun without hurting people!"

"In other words, no Halloween spirit," Kitty observed.

"No, wait, just hear me out, okay? This is totally awesome! We'll freak people out more than ever before …"

After a lot of debate, the ghosts agreed to his plan and flew to their respective lairs to prepare for the next day. At first, they had been totally against it, but when they thought about it, it really was quite clever and scary...

Halloween was unfortunately on a Wednesday that year. Ew.

Jazz banged on Danny's door. "Danny, you should have been up twenty minutes ago! I am not your personal alarm clock!"

No response.

"Danny!"

"**Danny!"**

Jazz swung the door open to reveal an empty room. That was unusual.

Sam and Tucker were worried. School was going to start in three minutes and Danny wasn't there. Not only that, but he hadn't even called!

"Do you think a ghost got him?" Sam asked worriedly.

"It is Halloween," Tucker responded. "Man, if he doesn't get here, he's going to get detention."

"He's got one minute," Sam noted. "I am going to kill him if he's okay and he doesn't show up."

"Don-" Tucker was cut off by an explosion at the front of the school. An explosion that rocked it to its roots.

"Judging by that, I'd have to say he's not okay," Tucker said as they ran to the scene of the explosion and the school evacuated itself. What they found made their jaws drop and their feet freeze.

A good five-meter crater had been created in front of the school's front doors and Skulker stood in front of it. But his was not what shocked them. It was the position Skulker was in.

Skulker had his back to the school and was glaring defiantly up at the sky. He was in a defensive – yes, a defensive – position and it looked like he was facing down whatever had just made the crater. Not only that, he appeared to be protecting the school!

"GHOST!" the evacuated students screamed and milled about. Jazz somehow found them in the hubbub.

"Have you guys seen Danny?" she asked.

"Not since yesterday morning," Sam replied. "You haven't either?"

"Not at all."

"What would make him just disappear like that?" Tucker asked.

"Let's go ask _him_," Sam said, jerking her chin towards Skulker. They ran over.

"Where's Danny?" Jazz and Sam demanded. Tucker had his PDA at the ready.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Skulker exclaimed.

_Huh?_

"What?" Tucker asked, but then gasped as Skulker grabbed them and deposited them inside the school. He faced them and smiled.

"What did you say?" Sam said, eyes narrowing.

"I'm so glad you're all safe! You have no idea how badly things could have gone if I hadn't stopped him!" Skulker's face clouded over when he mentioned "him."

"Him?" Sam demanded. "Who's him?"

Skulker seemed to shiver and he shook his head, slowly fading from sight. "Don't worry, children, we've got your backs."

Said children stared at each other in utter bewilderment and then separated to go back to class.

Unbeknownst to them, Skulker was chuckling above the school.

Tucker screamed in Computer Science when everything went dark – and the electricity went out. Some of the computers even sparked a little.

"Don't worry, kids," the teacher said, raising his hands up in peace although no one could see him in the pitch black darkness. "I'll just go-"

A resounding boom sounded above their heads, as well as snarling. Most people screamed.

"Forget it, dude!" a voice shouted and another growled back before receding.

The kids (and the teacher) screamed again when a familiar figure floated down to them over the computers. Tucker stared.

"Don't fear, kids!" Technus shouted in his horrible jargon. "I can fix what that miscreant did," he shook his fist at the ceiling dramatically, "for I am Technus, master of all things technological! Ah-ha!" In a single moment, the lights and the computers all came back on.

"What miscreant?" Tucker asked.

Technus looked at him with fear sketched on his face. "_Him_."

"Who's him?"

Technus floated through the ceiling instead of answering and the teacher restarted the class.

Sam had been sneaking towards the cafeteria to -, well never mind what she was going to do, just be satisfied to know it had something to do with the meat being delivered and vinegar. Anyway, she was sneaking to where the delivery trucks came in when she saw the Box Ghost.

_Oh, no_, she mentally groaned. She didn't have a thermos on her just then (stupid!) and there were loads of boxes on that truck – although she couldn't care less about their contents.

But what she witnessed made her jaw drop. The boxes of meat levitated and floated in an orderly fashion in the building to the secret meat stash. There was no yelling. No boxes flying at super-speed. Just the Box Ghost.

"Okay," she stated, marching up to him. "What are you doing here?"

"I am merely putting these cardboard containers in their proper places," the Box Ghost said, facing her.

The look of confusion on her face was delicious.

Sam scowled. "Yeah, I can see that. Why are you doing it? Why aren't you being your usual annoying self?"

The Box Ghost took on a sad look, like a chastised child. "You think I'm annoying?"

Sam was momentarily speechless. "Well, you do attack us all the time. Literally, all the time. If you were more dangerous, you'd be a serious problem, but, um, yeah." Something about how the Box Ghost was actually trying to be civil made her not want to seriously hurt him, and she wasn't sure if he'd take offense from her statement about his threat level.

The two stood, well one floated, awkwardly for a moment.

"So, um, do you know where Danny is?" Sam asked with hope.

Suddenly, the Box Ghost jumped in front of her and all the boxes from the delivery truck flew with him to form a solid wall in front of her.

"You shall not hurt her!" the Box Ghost proclaimed.

A sudden blast knocked all the boxes away and she screamed when Youngblood appeared beside her.

"I'll lead him away," he whispered and then rose up. "Hey pickle nose, remember the last time we met?"

A snarl answered.

Youngblood laughed. "Well, come and get me!" He streaked away, leaving Sam in the middle of a pile of boxes and the Box Ghost floating above her.

"I am sorry," the Box Ghost said, and levitated the boxes up, moving them back inside the building once again.

Sam stared at him, then at where Youngblood had disappeared. "Who was that?"

The Box Ghost shivered like Skulker had earlier. "BEWARE! Fear him! He has power beyond our knowledge!" The boxes all inside the building, he promptly disappeared, leaving a very freaked out Sam behind him.

The Box Ghost now laughed at the look of almost-terror Sam wore. This was _fun_.

Jazz screamed when she ran into Spectra. She had been reading, and didn't notice the ghost in front of her. Or maybe Spectra had intentionally run into her. Jazz wouldn't put it past her.

Jazz didn't get the chance to further shout because –

"Oh, my dear, I'm so sorry!" Spectra apologized as she knelt down and picked up Jazz's books. Jazz shied away from her touch, but Spectra only handed the books back to her. "You aren't hurt, are you? Still happy? Are you okay?"

"Um, are _you_ okay?" Jazz asked. What was going on with this ghost's psych?

"Oh, I'm positively wonderful," she beamed. "Bertrand?" A little man appeared beside her. "Have you finished with the Halloween streamers yet? We have to get on to putting up the rest of the decorations!"

"Do any of those decorations include guns of any kind?" Jazz asked suspiciously, remembering last time's encounter with the two.

Spectra looked at her with a horrified face. "What?" she breathed. "No! Just think of how depressing and unhappy that would make everyone! We couldn't do that!"

The know-it-all girl who always had an answer to everything adopted an expression that no one had ever seen on her face. One completely devoid of all thoughts and brain functions.

It made the genius look like a senseless idiot.

Spectra and Bertrand swept past her, arguing over which decorations to do. When they were a safe distance away, they collapsed, giggling and guffawing. "I wish I had had a camera," Spectra choked out.

Lunchtime. Sam and Tucker were standing in line, Sam more so to explain to Tucker about the Box Ghost than to get lunch.

"It was seriously weird!" Sam whispered.

"The same thing happened with Technus today in Comp Sci!" Tucker whispered back. "He acted all _good_!"

"I'm still worried about Danny," Sam said as Tucker went up to the lunch lady with his meal. "Why isn't he here fighting the new ghost? If it's bad enough to make our enemies protect us, then why isn't he?"

"Oh, Sam," a familiar voice said. Sam and Tucker looked up and gasped when they saw the Lunch Lady smiling at them. "I made you a little special, knowing how much you dislike meat and all." Sam cautiously accepted the veggie meal being held out to her. They went to their table and watched as the Lunch Lady nicely handed out the lunches – even the ones without much meat. When Sam poked through what the Lunch Lady had given her, she didn't find anything she objected to.

The Lunch Lady looked over at their table and smiled at the freaked-out faces they had.

The daycare group walked by during the lunch shift as always, but Tucker gawked when he saw Youngblood going with them. He nudged Sam.

"What is he doing?" Sam asked.

"Well, he's currently walking, er, flying, with them and he looks really nervous, almost protective-"

"I know _what_ he's doing! _Why's_ he doing it?" Sam hissed.

"Now that, I can't answer except to say that I really hope we wake up soon. Ow!" Tucker rubbed his arm where Sam had just pinched him – painfully.

"We are awake. I just wish we knew what was going on!"

"So you have wished it, so shall it be!" Desiree's voice whispered and Sam and Tucker screamed. They got many weird looks, but the other kids shrugged it off as a geek thing.

Desiree smirked, but kept her laughter to herself. Barely.

"There is a very powerful ghost attacking the town. Very powerful. But this is our town. We won't let some ghost destroy it! We can't let people get hurt!"

"Okay, so what's the catch?" Tucker asked.

"Catch?" Desiree adopted a puzzled tone.

"What's the twist?"

Now Desiree sounded hurt. "Why would there be a twist? We're here to help!"

"What?"

Desiree stayed silent and left the cafeteria. Part I accomplished.

Nathan screamed when Dash hoisted him up and stuffed him in a locker.

Sam and Tucker didn't pay any attention. It was the usual. They were more worried about where Danny was.

They did pay attention when Walker appeared and blocked Dash's path. "Stuffing people into lockers," he said. "That's against the rules." Dash began to tremble. "I'll let you off easy this time, punk, but only if you fix your mistake."

"Y-y-es, s-sir," Dash stuttered in reply and pulled Nathan out. Both ran away in a panic, screaming "GHOST!"

"Alright, Walker," Sam said, scowling as they approached him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm keeping the rules," Walker replied as if he did it every day.

"But wh-" Before Sam could finish, Walker had left to apprehend a boy standing by the girls' locker room.

"Maybe they really are trying to help?" Tucker wondered.

Walker chuckled at Tucker's shock when Sam whacked him in the back of the head. Those two had to be the most amusing kids in the school.

Kitty giggled. This Halloween had to be the most amusing they'd had in a long while. True, it was a little dull at the moment, what with the limited pranks they had pulled. They had done things that made people stare in bewilderment instead of run away. But still, the bewilderment was much funnier to see, and the air of anticipation more than made up for the absent satisfaction they usually got in seeing the humans' horrified looks and hearing their terrified screams.

Her current boyfriend revved his engine and grinned. "Show time."

The students screamed when a green blast appeared and exploded right behind them.

"What do we do?" Tucker panicked.

"We fight," Sam said. "Duh."

"But Danny's not here!" Another blast barely missed them.

"We still fight! Give me the Fenton Thermos!" Tucker tossed it and pulled out another weapon for himself. "Where is he?"

A motorcycle came around the corner and screeched to a halt beside them.

"Quick! Get on!" Johnny 13 said.

Kitty grabbed the remaining kids (which were Sam, Tucker, and Mikey; everyone else had had enough sense to run away instantly), but screamed when another blast came. They barely managed to avoid it.

Kitty got off and put them on. "Go, go, go! I'll try to keep him busy!" She flew up and disappeared.

Johnny 13 grinned ferally. "We are gone!"

Mikey screamed at the speed, but Tucker and Sam had other problems.

"What are you doing?" they yelled.

"Not letting you guys get hurt," he replied. "At least, trying."

A blast exploded in front of them, and Johnny cursed. "He must have overpowered Kitty! Hold on tight, kids!" He sped up.

Tucker winced. He hadn't realized males could reach the pitch Mikey was hitting. And right beside his ear, too.

His world did a sudden 360 when Johnny entered the city. They were going up buildings, down buildings, along the sides of buildings (that made him scream, too), and the whole while, a line of green blasts followed them, always hitting the place they had just been when suddenly, the motorcycle stopped and a blast hit the spot where they would have been.

A particularly strong blast landed right beside them and Johnny's eyes widened in panic. "Shadow!"

His shadow spread up and embraced them, squeezing a few seconds until, pop!, they were released.

"How'd we get to the park?" Sam asked.

"Shadow can do teleportation sometimes," Johnny replied.

Mikey screamed and pointed. "GHOST!"

"Well, yeah," Johnny said. "What else could rescue you guys from that creep?" He puffed out his chest proudly.

Mikey stared at him. "But aren't you one of the ghosts who usually attacks Amity?"

Johnny frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Don't you-"

"Johnny!" Kitty was floating towards them. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hold him back very long! He's too powerful!" She began to cry a little and Johnny rode up to comfort her.

"Shhh, shhhh, it's okay," he said kindly. Sam and Tucker stared. They had never seen Johnny be so sensitive before. Which way was down again? "You did your best, and no one got hurt." He turned and waved to them. "Be seeing you around!" he said cheerfully, and then rode off.

"So now he's protecting us?" Mikey asked.

Ember landed in front of the small group of kids and smiled dangerously at the empty air.

"Give me your best shot!" she challenged as she strummed her guitar. A green ectoblast came out of nowhere and raced towards them, but she smashed it with her sonic. She smiled at the sounds of the kids screaming behind her. This was just too good.

"That's just lame, dipstick! Worthy of the newly-created baby you are!"

She shivered at the growl that answered, becoming worried. Throughout the day, the dipstick had become more violent and inclined to do harm. Usually, she was all for doing harm and wreaking havoc, but these things were just not in _his_ personality. It was scary, how much he was changing, and coming from a ghost, that meant something. He was supposed to be the hero. If he became a villain, well, they were going to get a taste of that later. For now, just enjoy kicking his butt, Ember told herself. She looked down to see her human audience cheering her on and chanting her name, adopting her as their new protector.

Tucker screamed in Jazz's room and banged his head against the wall. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

Jazz glanced up from her book and frowned. "Tucker, stop damaging my wall. It can't take that much abuse."

"Find anything?" Sam asked.

"Nothing. The ghosts' unusual behavior is completely unaccounted for. There is no force that would make them turn good; in fact, according to this, their instincts should be telling them to be pure evil today. The only reason they would be doing good right now is if they wished to and were able to overcome their instincts."

"But that's preposterous!" Tucker exclaimed. "Wouldn't they give into their instincts like they do the rest of the year? It's Halloween! They have a reputation to keep! It doesn't make any sense!"

"Maybe it's a trick," Sam said darkly. "Maybe they're acting nice to gain our trust, but at the end of the day they'll all do something horrible to the city."

"Hey, guys! What's with all the shouting?"

"DANNY!" Danny walked in with a smile, but it disappeared when Jazz grabbed him.

"Where were you!"

"Yeah, dude, you weren't at school today at all," Tucker added.

Danny winced. "Not in my ear, Jazz."

"Answer me!"

"Okay, okay. I was at the movies."

"What?" they all shrieked.

Sam's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What? I think I deserve a break every now and then!"

Sam stalked up to him. "Did you know there's a new ghost around?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. And did you know that all the other ghosts are fighting him?

"Ummmm…"

Sam suddenly roared in his face. **"So you skipped school and abandoned us just to go see the movies?"**

"Yeeees?"

"**That is the most irresponsible, self-serving thing you've ever done Danny! You didn't even call us to let us know that you were okay, we were so worried about you! If you ever do that again, I will stuff you inside the Fenton Thermos and keep you there for a week!"**

"I can't believe you'd just blow off your responsibilities so easily," Jazz said, looking deeply disappointed. "They're so important, especially now that there's a dangerous ghost on the loose. He's been attacking everyone!"

Tucker remained silent.

"We are going to go out there and fight that ghost!" Sam declared, grabbing Danny and pulling him towards the door.

"Make me!" he said, going intangible to escape her grasp and backing up.

Everyone stared at him, and he smiled. "Catch me if you can!" He dashed out through the wall to his parents' bedroom and the trio rushed to it, only to stop dead in their tracks when they saw it.

It was completely overrun with spiders, centipedes, worms, and- yeah, I'm not going into it. Suffice it to say that Jazz screamed her best scream yet and Tucker turned green.

"Like it?" Danny asked as Phantom, floating above them. "You should see the kitchen and the lab." He floated intangibly to the lower levels.

Jazz let out another scream when she saw the kitchen. There was ectoplasm dripping everywhere and the sausages were running around in it.

"Surf's up, guys!" they shouted when they saw the humans.

"I don't even want to see the lab," Tucker said.

Sam had turned a beautiful shade of magenta. **"DANNY!"**

"What is up with him?" Tucker wondered.

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz were very worried now. This wasn't Danny.

Phantom laughed as he appeared above the town center. "Finally!"

Everyone looked up at their superhero. Valerie's eyes narrowed and she ran behind a building to activate her suit.

"Not so fast, punk!" Walker cried, and all the ghosts became visible around him. They surrounded him.

"Trying to stop me?" Phantom asked tauntingly. "You can't possibly!" He shot a green ectobeam at the side of a building, slicing his logo into it.

"Well maybe I can!" the Red Huntress snarled as she sped towards him. The townspeople gasped.

Phantom disappeared for a moment before appearing right behind her.

"Yeah, right!" He used an ice beam to freeze her sled, and she fell, screaming.

"I've got her!" Skulker yelled. He caught her.

"Let her go, ghost!" the newly-arrived Fentons yelled. Maddie pulled out her ecto-gun while Jack grabbed his Jack-O-Nine-Tails.

"I'm trying to help!" Skulker said, setting Valerie down and raising his hands peacefully.

"Yeah, right! We don't know your game, but we do know it isn't good!" Maddie retorted as Sam, Tucker and Jazz ran up behind her.

Phantom laughed at her, drawing everyone's eyes to him. "How would you know that?" he asked. He aimed an ectoblast at the Fenton RV, but Skulker managed to move it away just in time.

"Vandalizing property!" Walker shouted. "That's against the rules, Punk!"

Danny smiled and floated downwards, and the entire town suddenly gasped at the changes they saw in him.

They had all happened to his face. His eyes were still green, his hair was still white, but his expression was so different they weren't even sure if it was Phantom. Even Maddie and Jack had to admit something was different. His face was full of mischief and cunning and they could practically see the dark cogs turning around in his head. The pointed ears added to the effect. Even the ghosts were shocked by his new appearance. They had seen him scheming yesterday with the same look, but now it seemed to have completely absorbed him. His body language practically screamed "I'm up to no good!" and he strongly reminded everyone of Puck, or at least, everyone who had read _A Midsummer Night's Dream_. To everyone else, he seemed like a furtive pixie that should be avoided at all costs.

"Go!" Ember cried and the ghosts all engaged Phantom at the same time. The town held its breath as they battled, unable to comprehend what was going on.

Phantom somehow managed to extricate himself from the tangle and swooped down. The people screamed as he shot past and shrieked when they felt themselves sink into the ground.

"Danny! Why are you doing this?" Sam asked as she struggled, but she couldn't get free. Her arms were trapped to her sides and all she could do was wriggle. The rest of the town was in the same situation; everyone's lower half was stuck inside the ground, leaving them helpless.

Danny turned to her, and her eyes widened at his look. "Because it's fun," he whispered as he swept by her.

"Got you!" Skulker cried as he caught Phantom in a net. He dragged the struggling spirit back up to the sky and the weaker ghosts, such as the Box Ghost and Spectra, flew down, immediately getting to work and pulling the people back out of the ground one by one.

"HYA!" Danny shouted, breaking free of the net with a power surge. Ember sent a musical fist his way.

"Get off me, ghost!" Jack shrieked when Spectra pulled him up. Danny looked down and smiled. Time to talk.

But first…

He blew an icy breath at the fountain, causing it to freeze, and raised a hand to smash it. Technus stopped him, shocking him badly with wires that had sprung from the town hall behind them. Danny kept trying to blast the buildings, but every time he did, he was met with resistance from the rest of the ghosts that overpowered his attack. Eventually, he became fed up with it.

"That's it!" he bellowed, and the townspeople looked at him with fear, even Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. "You meddlesome, good-willed ghosts are going down! All I wanted was to take down this city and give it the pain it's given me, but no, you all had to interfere! Good-bye!" Danny closed his eyes and opened his mouth, preparing to use an attack he had never ever shown the town before.

"That's it!" he bellowed. "You meddlesome, good-willed ghosts are going down! All I wanted was to destroy this city that's caused me so much pain, but no, you had to interfere! Good-bye!" Danny closed his eyes and opened his mouth, preparing to use an attack he had never ever shown the town before.

The Ghostly Wail sent all his ghostly adversaries flying into the various walls around him, and then through them. Buildings quaked and walls crumbled, and the people considered themselves lucky that they were below the sonic waves. At least, some of them. Most of them were too awed and scared to do more than faint or watch the scene unfold.

When the wail was done, Phantom floated down to the townspeople's levels, close to where Maddie and Jack were standing.

Maddie licked dry lips. "How – how long have you been able to do that?" she whispered, hating how her voice trembled.

Phantom's unfamiliar face smirked at her and he flew over to stand right in front of her. "Oh, a couple of months. And now," he continued in a voice that carried to everyone else, "I am free to destroy this violent city!" Maddie shivered at the look in his eyes. She had never seen him like this. Where was the humor? The confusion and sadness she usually saw in his eyes? Where was Phantom?

"BEWARE!" a voice cried. The Box Ghost appeared from behind a broken wall. "For I am the Box Ghost, master of all things cardboard and square! I am the one who will capture you and sentence you, Phantom, to your doom in this cylindrical container!" He held up a Fenton Thermos and opened it. Phantom's eyes widened, and he tried to fly away, but there was no escaping the blue light that pulled him back.

The Box Ghost put the cap on the thermos smugly. All part of the deal. He then saw the townspeople who were all staring at him with their jaws hanging open and did the first thing that came to mind.

"BEWARE!" He was gone in an instant.

Very few people went trick-or-treating that Halloween.

Danny dashed into the classroom just as the bell rang. "Yes, I'm not late!" he gasped, jumping up and punching the air and receiving many weird looks.

"Mr. Fenton. You may not be late, but that is no reason to do a victory dance. If everyone else can manage it, then you should be able to. Now, _take a seat_!" Mr. Lancer yelled.

Sam and Tucker looked at Danny with a little fear and Sam hurriedly began writing on a piece of paper. She threw it over.

**What happened to you yesterday?**

Danny wrote on it and threw it back. _What do you mean?_

**You were positively evil yesterday! All the other ghosts had to save us from you! They acted good.**

_Wow. That's a story. I should tell them. 'Hey, Skulker, did you know that you were actually GOOD on Halloween?' Yeah, he wouldn't vaporize me at all for THAT remark._

Sam looked at him oddly and tossed the note to Tucker, who raised his eyebrows when he read it.

A little ways into the lesson, Danny gasped and shivered as his ghost sense went off. "May I go to the nurse's office? I don't feel good," he said.

Mr. Lancer looked at him, then sighed and nodded.

Tucker and Sam looked at each other. When the bell rang a few minutes later, they found the Danny Phantom they were used to seeing floating in front of Skulker.

"Admit it, it was fun," Danny told Skulker.

Skulker huffed at him, but then smiled. "Fine. It was a fantastic prank. I never knew confusion and chaos could bring such satisfaction. And I certainly wouldn't have thought you had it in you, prey. The cunning, I mean. Not the acting. Seriously, 'you guys are going down?' That's the worst evil line ever."

Danny rolled his eyes. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"And choosing _the Box Ghost_ to catch you in the end? Why'd you do that? His ego's going to become even _more_ insufferable."

"I figured I've caught him the most in the thermos, he was the one who should catch me for once. Also, he was the one who would most likely let me out afterwards. By the way, awesome party last night."

"I would have let you out! Everyone needed to be at the party! I've thrown a Halloween party every year for the past several centuries," he said. "They often give me my most amusing memories." He smiled and shook his head. "You know, I have several questions for you that I didn't get to ask last night."

"Shoot."

"Why did you agree to pose publicly as a villain? That'll cause you grief later, you know."

"Or not. Remember when we were planning and I told you guys we couldn't hurt people? You all started yelling at me and told me how I shouldn't be worried about it; it was part of the fun and our instincts demanded it. I asked how you could tell I was being affected by ghost instincts and you told me how I was changing. So. Yesterday's Phantom looked completely different from the usual Phantom. Yesterday's Phantom acted completely different, too; it was hard to miss. Everyone must have seen the change. They've met good Phantom, who they think is bad, and bad Phantom, who they know is bad. It will definitely make them question how evil good Phantom is. Not to mention the fact that you would have gone back to the original plan of hurting people for laughs unless I agreed to be evil while you guys were being good."

"Okay. I can see that. Other question: how are you not evil right now? Most ghosts become permanently bad after their first Halloween; I've seen it countless times. And the more violent their actions are on Halloween, the harder it is for them to restore their former attitude. But you, you were pretty malevolent, and now you're just like before."

Danny stared at him. "You mean there was a chance I would become evil?" He glared at Skulker.

_Must be a halfa thing_, Skulker decided as he was sucked into the Fenton Thermos by an enraged ghostboy.

Sam and Tucker stared at each other.

"Danny is so going to get it later," Sam growled.

Tucker stopped her. "But we can't let him know we heard this. And what about next Halloween?"

Sam considered for a moment and then shivered.

**Happy Halloween! **


End file.
